Philippines: Too Many Mouths?

Philippines: Too Many Mouths?

In the 1960s, the Philippines was one of the world’s leading rice producers. Since then its population has more than doubled and the country can no longer feed itself. Not only has demand for food shot up, but farmland has been lost to development. This has put pressure on all the country’s basic life-support systems. It is felt most acutely by the poorest families.

While most of the countries in Southeast Asia have taken decisive action to slow population growth, the Catholic Church in the Philippines has resisted any form of population control. But some politicians are responding to a clamor among their constituents for family planning services.

The Philippines has one of the highest population growth rates in all of Southeast Asia. Its population, today just shy of 100 million, is expected to double by the end of the century.

Photo: Sam Eaton

Government warehouses, like this one, store imported rice. The Philippines imports more rice than any other nation on the planet in order to feed its growing population.

Photo: Sam Eaton

Scientists at the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines are scrambling to introduce higher-yielding rice varieties.

Photo: Sam Eaton

Many farmers in the Philippines are poor -- with few tools at their disposal to boost rice yields.

Photo: Sam Eaton

Rice is the staple food of the Philippines.

Photo: Sam Eaton

The maternity ward at the Dr. Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital in Manila is packed beyond capacity with new mothers who have no choice but to share the limited number of beds. More than 2 million babies are born every year in the Philippines.

Photo: Sam Eaton

Population growth among the poor in the Philippines, where birth control remains largely out of reach, is about four times higher than the rest of the country.

Photo: Sam Eaton

The price of rice remains high, with poor Filipinos spending as much as 70 percent of their income on food.